The one Time Ace turned away
by FMPtrumpets
Summary: We all know Ace is well-known for never turning his back on a fight, but... what if Luffy managed to get him to walk away from Akainu at Marineford?
1. Ace

"Ace! Come on, we got to go! What are you doing?!" Various members of the Whitebeard crew all yelled when they saw their brother, the one they came here to rescue, stop running and _turn back_ towards the enemy.

"Ace!" Luffy yelled. He knew what was happening, and he didn't like it. Why did Ace always have to do this? Why.

"You don't talk about Pops that way." Ace growled as he stalked back towards the Admiral who was currently smirking like he just won the lottery. "You have no right to even speak his name!" He yelled as his shoulders caught fire.

"Your precious 'Pops' is a coward. A weak old man." Akainu continued to taunt as Ace prowled closer and closer.

"Not again." The Whitebeards closest heard Luffy mutter before he started to get more desperate in his attempts to get Ace's attention the closer Ace got to the Admiral determined to 'rid the world of his tainted bloodline'.

Ace ignored him, something that shocked the Whitebeards, with all the times they had heard Ace talking about his beloved little brother, they didn't think it was possible for Ace to deny Luffy anything, yet here he was, ignoring his pleas for them to just GO. That he was also ignoring their pleas as well... and apparently this wasn't the first time Luffy saw Ace do something like this.

When Luffy tried to run after Ace, one of the second division members held him back. With all the fighting the kid did today, and with opponents so much stronger than himself, everyone was amazed he could still stand, much less try to keep fighting.

Finally, just as Ace was about to launch himself at Akainu, Luffy yelled, "Don't make me lose the only brother I have left! Don't leave like Sabo!"

Ace froze. Then he had to jump out of the way just in time to avoid a magma fist. Marco took this as his chance to get between the two of them while Ace turned to Luffy.

Nobody heard Iva muttering, "Sabo? They can't be talking about..."

"Don't leave me." Luffy whispered, staring at his big brother. The broken look on his face made Ace's heart break and brought him back to his senses. What was he doing? He was about to risk leaving Luffy behind... the little idiot he promised to protect, the little idiot he raised and loved with everything he had.

He looked back at Akainu, then at Luffy before he decidedly turned his back on the Admiral and ran to join Luffy, who was finally let go of so Ace could grab him in a quick hug. "Sorry about that, Lu. I forgot myself for a minute there." He whispered in his ear. He pulled back and gave Luffy a grin. "Let's get out of here. I can get him another day, when I'm stronger and we've all had time to recover. Let's go!" He yelled to the rest of his crew. They all cheered and started running for the boats again with Marco and the rest of the commanders covering them from behind.

As they ran, Ace wasn't the only one who glanced back at Pops body, still standing tall and proud, with his tattoo proudly on display on his unscarred back.

Unfortunately, getting away wasn't turning out to be easy.

The Marines seemed desperate not to let them get away, with the captains and officials sending their men out to fight them in waves, with no regard at all for their men's lives. Ace passed one Marine crouching on the ground, rocking back and forth holding his head, muttering for someone to make it stop. He heard another Marine in the same position on the ground demand to know what they were even fighting for, he saw another Marine call for a doctor, only for a Captain come by and put the poor man out of his misery before ordering the one who called for a doctor to chase the Whitebeard's and leave the wounded behind. They would take care of the wounded after every single Whitebeard was destroyed.

Ace never saw it coming, he was too focused on getting his family out of there, too focused on Luffy and Marine attacks from the sides.

One minute, he's running, the next, Jinbe was standing over Luffy with his arms wrapped around the rubber boy as he took a direct hit from a magma covered fist. The fist went straight through him, even touching Luffy.

"LUFFY!" Ace yelled, Marco and Izo showed up and got Akainu away from them as Ace and a few others from the Second Division rushed to grab the two injured pirates. Ace took Luffy while the rest of the division took Jinbe. Ace was no doctor, but even he could tell it was bad. He couldn't even bring himself to care that he had no idea where Luffy's hat flew off to. He figured he could always get a message to Garp later about finding it and getting it to him.

Once they finally reached the boats, they found a strange looking boat alongside it. "Give them to me, I'm a doctor." The man standing on its deck said.

"Your Trafalgar Law. How can I trust you with him?" Ace yelled, as the pirates around them worked at keeping the Marines away while their family boarded the boats.

"I can go with them, Captain. You need to stay with the rest of the crew though. We need our commanders to decide what next." Dusty said. Dusty was Ace's first mate back when he was captain of the Spade Pirates. Even now, a couple of years later, he refused to call Ace anything other than captain, he said his captain was Ace, and Whitebeard was his Pops.

Ace hesitated and looked down at Luffy in his arms. "Ace! He needs medical attention now! And all our doctors are in the New World." Marco yelled as he kept fighting. Ace looked over at them before he gritted his teeth and handed Luffy over to Dusty.

"You call us, as soon as he wakes up. You tell us where you are. You tell me how he is. Alright?" Ace ordered Dusty.

"Yes, captain."

Law frowned at hearing he was going to have to host a Whitebeard for a while, but he didn't say anything. It was kind of hard to argue with a protective fire man who also happened to be the infamous Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Portgas D. Ace. Or rather, Gol D. Ace.

As Dusty got on with Luffy, he laid him out on the stretcher that was waiting while some of Laws men grabbed Jinbe. He took a quick look at his new patients and make a quick decision that Luffy was in more immediate danger. As they sailed away, "Shanks?" Law breathed when he saw Red-Haired Shanks show up and stand between the Marines that were left and the Whitebeard pirates.

He watched as Shanks knelt down and picked something up, if Law strained himself, he could just make out the tan and red colors of Strawhats hat. He watched as he spoke with the clown that was flying around (ok...) then tossed the hat to the clown who then started flying after him and his ship just as his crew started yelling at him to come inside so they could go under already.

He waited just long enough for the clown to throw him the hat before he finally came inside, wondering again why he was doing this.

Back on Marineford, Ace watched the submarine taking his brother away and hoped he made the right call. Then he turned back to the fight that was still going on, only to see the sea being frozen as Aokiji joined the rush to keep the Whitebeard's from getting away. He cursed and jumped down to the ice surface to see what he could about melting it away enough for them to get out there, or at least to keep it from trapping the boat that Luffy was on.

He turned and shook his head to his crew when he found the ice was too thick for him to melt fast enough. Jumping back up to shore to keep fighting, he saw Shanks had arrived. "Shanks!" Both him and Marco yelled, standing between the Marines and their crew.

Shanks stopped walking and knelt down to pick up something by his feet.

Ace sucked in a breath. "Luffy's hat." He started to go forward to claim it from the Yonko, he knew about the deal Luffy and Shanks had with him. He knew Shanks was a man of his word, but he still felt that Shanks having that hat right then was breaking their deal in some way. Marco held him back just in time for a clown pirate to come flying up to Shanks and start yelling at him. They all sweat-dropped when they heard that this clown and Shanks used to be crewmates on the Oro Jackson. Finally, Shanks tossed the hat to Buggy, and asked him to go toss that to Trafalgar before they got too far away. Which he did, grumbling and complaining the whole way.

"I'm putting an end to the fighting here and now! This has gone on long enough! If you want to keep fighting anymore, then you will have to fight us!" Shanks announced, as he came to stand between the Marines and Whitebeards.

He narrowed his eyes on Akainu. "So, do you want to go against two Yonko crews? I believe your men have had enough with just one." He said, looking around at the destruction with a raised eyebrow. Sengoku and Garp finally showed up by this time, and Sengoku looked around too. Finally, he nodded. "Go. Get out of our sight. Unfreeze their ship! They probably would have figured out a way to get out anyway. Blasted Gol's and Monkey's. I can never get a break from those families." He muttered as he turned his back. "Akainu! Leave them be!" He said sharply as his Observation Haki detected Akainu preparing to attack again.

Before he got too far, Shanks called. "And give us the bodies! We won't have you making trophies out of them, we will ensure their proper burial." Sengoku looked back and sighed.

"Take them!" He yelled as he continued moving away. Ace and Marco looked at each other.

"Start searching the battle field for bodies! I'm not sure what to do about Oars, though..." Marco ordered. Right away, the other commanders went with their divisions while the Red-Hair pirates stayed behind to make sure the Marines didn't do anything funny. It took all of the second division to get Whitebeard's body, after which they spread out to find those of their division that didn't make it. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do about those that fell into the bay when they had been trapped and Akainu was raining meteor's on them.

The Red-Hair Pirates waited until all the Whitebeard's were back on their boat before they went to theirs and sailed alongside the Whitebeards. When they got a little farther out, they saw that the water's were full of rookie pirate ships, all of them watching the battle from a distance, trying to see the outcome. They all knew that this battle would change the world.

Every single one of the rookie ships was completely silent as they watched the Whitebeard's and Red-Hair's sail past, with Ace and the rest of the commander's standing at the figure-head with Pops body behind them.

The silence was broken when a Second-division member ran up, another one of Ace's old crew that refused to call him anything but captain. "Dusty just called! He said they were heading for Amazon Lily with the Kuja Pirates. Boa Hancock has offered Luffy her protection." Ace nodded. Marco said, "Then that's where we will go to regroup for a couple of days. We will have to send our allies out to make sure our islands are safe..."

"What's the point? Pops is gone!" Somebody yelled.

"Yeah, he is. But he is still our Pops. And when he offered those islands his protection, they became his children, just like we are. They became our brothers and sisters. We can't just abandon them." Ace yelled right back. Then he swallowed. "I'm sorry, everybody. I'm sorry all this ever happened. I never meant to cause so much trouble, I..."

Marco laid a hand on his arm. "It's alright, Ace. Like you just said, you are our brother, and we couldn't just abandon you."

Ace ducked his head. Then he raised his head and his hands and shot a fiery Whitebeard symbol into the sky. "Pops is gone now. I think the best thing we can do, is stick together. Continue on, in Pops name. Some of us will have to head for Water 7, get a new ship commissioned, but we are still the Whitebeard pirates, we will show them what makes us so strong."

The Whitebeards and allies cheered.

Ace smiled, even as he heard the navigator's set a course for Amazon Lily. He had his second family around him, even if some faces were gone never to return, and he was going to made sure his first family was alright.

They normally avoided talking about Sabo, it was too painful. But right now, Ace couldn't be happier Luffy brought him up.


	2. Sabo

Iva decided to head his ship towards HQ, instead of the Kamabaka kingdom like he originally planned. He just couldn't get what the Bosses kid said to Ace out of his head. _"Don't make me lose the only brother I have left! Don't leave like Sabo!"_

Iva knew two things. One: The D brothers were from Dawn Island in the East Blue. _They found Sabo on Dawn Island in the East Blue._ Two: The D brothers had a brother named Sabo who they thought died years ago. _They found Sabo after he nearly died years ago._

That was way too coincidencadental for his liking.

So, he was going to go and try to spark some kind of memory. Hopefully, it would be the memory of having brothers, or maybe the next best thing of having him remember something positive enough to send him to Dawn Island trying to find answers. He'd been avoiding that island like the plague since he first woke up on their ship with amnesia telling them that he couldn't go back there, ever. That was the only thing he ever remembered. The best thing, of course, would be if Sabo remembered his brothers outright and went to go find them. Wouldn't be hard to do, Iva knew exactly where they were right now.

He hoped he succeeded though, because he hated watching his young friend tearing himself up over getting his memory back, and this was the best chance they'd had in years!

After all, who best to jog the memories, then the brothers that he apparently meant everything to?

There wasn't a known method in all the New World that could possibly get one Portgus D. Ace, a man with a reputation for never backing down from a fight that was almost as big as Edward Newgate's was, to get him to back down from a fight. But all this scrawny kid had to do was face Ace with the possibility of leaving his little brother behind while merely saying Sabo's name.

He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't even notice that they'd docked, let alone that his Boss and Sabo were standing right behind him until a gloved hand grabbed him by the shoulder and swung him around to face them. He was going into defense mode, when he noticed the worried blue eyes of his Bosses second in command and the as-per-usual stoic face of the boss.

"Iva, you alright? You look pretty good for just breaking out of Impel Down. Hey, you look like you've seen a ghost, are you alright?" Sabo asked, he was worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine... I need to talk to you about something though, something Monkey D Luffy said on the battle field when his older brother Ace almost got into a fight with Akainu instead of running with the rest of them." He said, watching Sabo carefully. He saw the slightest of twitches on his face, which was usually his sign that he developed a sudden headache. Iva was relieved. Despite the fact that getting those memories back would hurt Sabo, it would be better in the long run.

Everyone could tell, that no matter how much he tried to pretend that not knowing his past or who he really was didn't matter much, they all knew that he wanted nothing more than to remember.

"Oh, and what did he say?" Dragon asked in a measured tone. He saw Sabo's face twitch, and he had a feeling he knew what Iva was trying to do, Iva was trying to trigger Sabo's memory, Iva must have learned something. He eased behind the boy so he could catch him should the boy pass out or become too nauseous to stand. Iva handed Sabo an old newspaper clipping he found of Ace in the Marine warship they took from Impel Down to Marineford. It was the clipping announcing Ace's capture and the date of the execution.

"Ace was going towards Akainu, refusing to let the man get away with insulting Whitebeard, despite the fact that everybody was yelling at him to run, when Luffy muttered 'not again.' Like it happened a lot, especially before the boy set sail and formed a crew, later on joining Whitebeard." Sabo's face was getting screwed up in a grimace as he stared at the picture of Ace's beaten up, defiant looking face. "He wasn't going to stop, in fact, he was just about to leap the rest of the distance between them when Luffy suddenly yelled, 'Don't make me lose the only brother I have left! Don't leave like Sabo!'" Sabo was now raising his hands to grab at his head, the clipping floating to the deck, and Dragon moved to brace him from behind.

"Sabo... Ace wasn't stopping, until Luffy mentioned you. Until he mentioned your 'death'. Only the closest of brothers will let go of their stubborn streak for the mere memory of somebody." Iva finished, slowly. Inwardly, he was both patting himself on the back for his success, while at the same time he never hated himself more for putting the young Commander through so much pain.

He was bent over, screaming, his hands clutching his head, finally, he passed out, but not before he breathed, "My brothers."

Dragon breathed a sigh of relief and quietly thanked Iva, before he waved one of the medics who came running when they heard the screams off. "Put him in his room. Keep an eye on him, but I think he'll be fine," He grinned suddenly, "Once his mind finishes processing the memories he just remembered." Everyone was silent for a moment before they cheered. Sabo was finally going to know!

He was finally going to know if he had any dreams before they rescued him, he was finally going to remember if he left somebody behind, he was finally going to know who he was.

Up until now, all he'd known was that his name was Sabo, and he was the son of a Noble of the Goa Kingdom. And he only knew that because that was how much he told Dragon when they met briefly, it was when the kid warned Dragon about the fire the nobles had set, and before the kid was stupid enough to sail right out in front of the ship of a Celestial Dragon. He didn't even know which Nobles were his parents, he didn't know what he'd been doing all those years, because while his memories of events and people were gone, his muscle memory was not. The fact that a metal pipe felt so natural in his hands was not gone. So, just what had he been doing?

Knowing the reputation of the Goa Kingdom nobles, his parents, whoever they were, wouldn't have been letting him run around fighting with a pipe.

For now, everyone watched as the doctors ran forward and picked Sabo up between them to carry him to their room. Dragon clapped Iva on the back. "It's good to have you back, Iva. How was my son when you left?" He asked.

"I don't know, last I heard he was being taken to Amazon Lily by Trafalgar Law, the Surgeon of Death. He needed immediate medical attention, Jinbe shielded him from the worse of the blow, but Akainu's fist still punched completely through Jinbe and managed to make contact with Strawhat." Dragon frowned.

"We'll wait until Sabo is awake, see how much he really remembers, I think its safe to say he at least remembers Ace and Luffy. I never imagined... I really should have known, I suppose." He said as he left, shaking his head.

* * *

He slept for almost three days.

The doctors were starting to get worried that the memories might have actually returned to him too much too fast and caused some brain damage, until he woke up and started yelling at everybody that was within earshot, which just so happened to be the poor doctors that were trying to determine if he actually had brain-damage or not, that he had to find his brothers, he had to let them know he was alive.

Then he seemed to freeze for a moment before he started counting off on his fingers and listing people who he should probably send a letter to as well, like Makino, and the bandits...

Dragon heard the last comment, "Bandits? Why on earth would you have to send a letter to bandits?" He didn't like bandits all that much...

"They raised me, Luffy, and Ace! Although I was only with them for a few months before the Fire at the Grey Terminal..." He said thoughtfully. "And we spent pretty much most of that time in our tree-house, dining and dashing, robbing nobles blind... or scrounging stuff we needed from the Trash Heap... beating up the idiots in town who thought they could challenge us... How stupid could they be, we were called the Demon Trio of MT. Corbo for a reason after all..." He trailed off, lost in happy memories of much simpler times.

All the Revolutionaries in the room with him stared and blinked. Their Chief of Staff had an interesting childhood... and that was without taking into account how on earth he got there from living as a Noble Heir in the first place.

"Ah, enough talking, I need to find my brothers! They still think I'm dead!" Sabo suddenly yelled, getting up and running out of the room before the doctor's could say anything about running tests.

"Should we tell him that Iva got us in touch with the Whitebeards and Reyleigh before he left, so we know exactly where his brothers are?" Koala leaned over and asked her Boss.

He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "I suggest you get to the ship, he's probably found the map I left on his desk with the island they're at circled by now. I would hate for him to sail off without anybody crewing the ship... And before you say anything, he's desperate to find those two, so he'll find a way." Dragon said. Everybody looked at him for a second before they started scrambling to get out the door and to the ship.

Sure enough, when they arrived at the docks, Sabo was working on (and making quite a bit of progress by himself) getting the ship ready to sail. Everybody sighed and quickly boarded, either taking command or running to make sure their orders were carried out depending on where they were on the Revolutionary chain of command.

Dragon stood on the docks and watched them set sail, before he did though, he gave Sabo his Vivre card to give to Luffy and Ace.

It took a couple of days before they reached the island where Ace and Reyleigh were currently at with Luffy.

From what they heard when they called Shakky, she said that Ace sent the Whitebeard's on ahead to the New World, (they couldn't be gone long after all, they had islands to protect and they knew the perfect spot to bury their dead at). He would catch up. For now, he was just a worried, over-protective older brother whose baby brother nearly died right in front of him. Sabo knew that Ace would be blaming himself for every single pirate who died at Marineford. Including the fact that Luffy was there and almost died, several times if what he overheard was correct.

Sabo figured that Ace would try and stay by Luffy's side until Luffy either forced him to rejoin his crew, or Luffy rejoined his own crew at Sabaody.

Which would apparently take a couple of years if the newspaper article and accompanying picture of Luffy ringing the Ox-bell and then paying his respects to the dead by the giant fissure now gracing the Marineford execution yard were any indication. The men on Timber Wolf who called in about finding Nico Robin there said she confirmed it. As did Iva when he got back to his island only to find Luffy's cook, Sanji, there. Apparently, both of them saw a message in the picture and decided to stay where they were, even asking if they could receive training. The rest of the Straw-hats were still missing. With no word of where they were or if they even survived the trip Kuma sent them on.

Sabo was particularly worried about Luffy's first-mate, Zoro. Kuma told them about some to the injuries the man sustained (at the hands of Kuma) on Thriller Bark. There was no way he had been anywhere close to fully healed yet when he was seen fighting on Sabaody.

Sabo felt sorry for Sanji though.

From what the Revolutionaries observed and heard, the man was a die-hard ladies man. And he was currently surrounded by Okama. That had to be his own personal hell.

Currently, Sabo was in his room, going from being calm and knowing he could handle Ace if he flew off the handle, and panicking about what his brothers would do. He was especially nervous over how Luffy would react. Luffy had always been more emotionally connected to those around him. To learn that your brother who you thought was dead for the past ten years, wasn't really dead... The kid would be an emotional wreck for a while.

"Hey, Sabo! We're here." Koala called as she knocked on the door. "Hack is already talking to Luffy and Ace, trying to get them prepared, but..."

Sabo looked up, said he was coming, then he slowly stood up from where he was trying and failing to concentrate on a letter to Makino and the bandits back home. This was going to be... emotional.

When he stepped out onto the deck, he took a deep breath before he went to the plank so he could go on shore, he hesitated at the top, his eyes easily finding his brothers, and for a moment, he just stood there, staring at them. They were staring at him too, they seemed frozen, although the tears were already starting to gather in Luffy's eyes. And, wait a minute... was Ace starting to cry too? Ok, he was not expecting that one.

He smiled softly and slowly walked got off the boat, never looking away from his brothers, as he nervously made his way towards them.

He was expecting yelling, or something on Ace's part, and a lot of crying on Luffy's. Instead, what he got when he finally stopped in front of them was both of them staring at him for a moment before finally grabbing him a hug, all three of them sobbing on each others shoulders, happy to be back together again, and all of them alive.

Just like Ace, Sabo was happy that Luffy mentioned his name at the battle of Marineford.


	3. Garp

Garp sighed as he walked down the street. He didn't know what island he was on, he didn't pay any attention when the navigators told him where they went after he told them to just sail somewhere. All he knew was that they were somewhere in New World.

It had been nearly two years since the disaster at Marineford, when Luffy, his sweet and adorable little grandson, showed up to free Ace; his somewhat less adorable, by no means sweet, hotheaded grandson. He'd almost lost them both that day. He'd almost lost them both just like they lost Sabo all those years ago.

Sometimes, he honestly didn't know why he turned down Dragon's offer of joining him in overthrowing the World Government. When his son left the Marines, he had said that he couldn't take the corruption anymore, and that he wasn't going to just stand by and do nothing while the Government destroyed innocent lives for no reason. That wasn't why he became a Marine.

He turned him down, though. He said that they had a duty as Marines. He didn't even know what that meant anymore. The Marines weren't the same organization they used to be when he first joined them all those years ago, back when he was young. Before Roger and he started chasing each other all over the oceans, whether to share a drink (or several), as the old friends they were, or to fight it out as Pirate and Marine. Back then, the Marines would have never dreamed of executing someone because of who their father was.

Or maybe they would, and he just didn't see it, wasn't willing to see it.

He'd done a lot of thinking in the weeks following the Battle, and in the end, it had been Ace and Dragon who convinced him to stay in the Marines, when he snuck out to make sure Ace was really alright. (He sure was surprised to see Sabo alive, and Dragon's second in command. He never saw that one coming.) 'If you don't like the corruption, then stay and do something about it, from the inside. Don't quit and let it grow unchecked.' Was what Ace said, Dragon just told him to be useful and stay, he could always use another pair of eyes within the ranks. Which, of course, made Garp wonder just how many Marines answered to Dragon, and how high up the chain they were.

So, he got himself put in charge of training and recruitment. And he made sure, whenever he was overseeing a training session, that he beat- er, trained, a few simple truths into the trainees heads. The world is not black and white. Marines are not always the good guys, and Pirates are not always the bad ones. Your bloodline does not determine who you are, your actions do. It was slow going, but if he could teach them the Moral Justice code that he followed now, then hopefully by the time they rose through the ranks, there would be less men like Akainu with his Absolute Justice.

He'd been secretly meeting with his son, Shanks, and Marco a lot too. He'd had enough of the World Government, particularly the Celestial Dragons, having their way and nobody ever calling them out on it. He never thought he would ever be in this position, he was betraying the Marines, but in his mind, they betrayed him first when they tried to destroy his family that day in Marineford.

His problems with the Celestial Dragons went back years, ever since his first trip to Sabaody, ever since the first time he truly saw their arrogance and cruelty for himself. The noble had been sitting on his slave, trailed by body-guards and other slaves, all of them dressed nicely. It wasn't until later that he learned just what kind of slave they were to be allowed such nice clothes. One of the boys had been no older than ten. That was the day he decided that he would play nice, but he would take them out the first chance he got. That was before he realized just what would happen to him if he were to try and strike back against them. If he were to do something like what he was planning, then his home and family would be put in danger.

So, he kept his head down. Rose through the ranks, gathered men around himself that he could trust to follow him, and not the Government. Visited slave houses and the auctions, purchased slaves and then freed them, attacked their masters outright to free the slaves. Most of the time he made it look like Assassins or Pirates, in later years he even made it look like the Revolutionaries did it, but he stayed loyal to the Marines and kept quiet about everything else that happened. It was just the slaves he took outright action for.

Then, of course, it became personal when he was told that a Celestial Dragon killed Sabo, one of his grandsons. Sabo may have been new to the family, but when Garp decided that you were part of his family, then it didn't matter how long you were there. Family was family. The fact that he now knew Sabo to be alive didn't matter.

Speaking of family, according to Ace, Luffy was alright, and training with Reyleigh... although he supposed that it was almost time for Luffy to make his reappearance. He still couldn't believe that everyone was saying his precious grandson was dead, as if! Luffy was a Monkey D.! He was stronger than that. As if a little thing like being grazed with a magma covered fist would be enough to keep him down, at least not permanently... Maybe for a week or two. Tops. Especially with a good doctor... that Surgeon of Death, he was a good doctor. He wasn't worried about Luffy, the boy was strong.

Oh, who was he kidding? He was worried to death and the only way he would stop worrying would be when he either saw Luffy in front of him or saw in the papers that he had returned.

"You know, Gramps, I'm surprised you're here, and not waiting for the Sunny to arrive in New World, with the Whitebeard's." He heard a voice coming from behind him. When he turned around, he saw none other than Sabo, leaning casually against a wall. As if Marines and Revolutionaries meeting up off the battle field was an every day thing.

He raised an eyebrow, "I could say the same of you." He said.

Sabo shrugged. "Boss had a job for me, if I hurry I should still be able to make it." He cocked his head to the side. "That doesn't explain what you're doing here, with your men, and not there, without your men."

Garp sighed again. Normally, he would be giving the boy his 'Fist of Love', but this wasn't the place, wherever this place was. "I don't even know where 'here' is." He said with a shrug. "I told my navigators to just sail somewhere."

He could see the wry amusement in Sabo's eyes, "And then when they tried to tell you where they sailed to, you didn't even stay long enough to listen? For all you know, they could have sailed you to Revolutionary territory. You know, we don't really like Marines much..." He said thoughtfully.

Garp snorted. Sabo was a manipulative one, always had been, even as a kid. It was just slightly more obvious back then. "If this was Revolutionary territory, then my ship would never have been allowed to make port." He said sarcastically.

Sabo hummed. "True. True. So, having an end-of-life crisis?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and a mischevious grin.

Garp fixed him with a glare and wondered how on earth he got such a difficult brat for a grandson. Oh yeah, Luffy liked him and he made Ace laugh and smile.

Right.

"Just, thinking. Its been two years since I almost lost both of my grandsons. And then it wasn't long before I found out my other grandson was still alive..." He shook his head. "This world is messed up." He muttered.

Sabo snorted. "You can say that again, why do you think I stayed with the Boss after they found me? I could have just let them drop me off at the nearest Revolutionary-controlled island, ya know." He said sarcastically.

Sabo sighed again and glanced down the street. "I better get back to work. Before my target disappears. See you around, Gramps." He said, and then he was gone, like he was never there to begin with. Garp stared for a moment before he snorted and kept walking.

No wonder the Marines were having such a hard time catching or otherwise fighting those guys. They were apparently masters of disappearing, even when your staring right at them.

He sighed and kept walking. He should probably find out what island this was... Ah, it didn't matter. After all, if this was Pirate or Revolutionary territory, they wouldn't have let his ship anywhere close to their waters. Let alone actually dock.

He wished he could go meet his grandson, but this was a bad week for sneaking around. After all, this was the first chance he'd been able to get away all month. He'd had an Admiral shadowing him around, he was just glad it wasn't Akainu, though... After being under such scrutiny, he couldn't afford to disappear for a while. He sighed again, bought some meat kabobs he could eat while he walked, and headed back to the ship. It was getting late, he should probably check in with his men, make sure nothing came up while he was gone.

He didn't think it did, they would have probably come to find him if it did. Besides, he should probably stick close, so he could get word as soon as Luffy made his reappearance.

* * *

He was sitting in his room eating his rice crackers, they really needed to find somewhere so he could stock up on some more before he ran out, when one of his men came in with a paper from Paradise. The man grinned before handing it to him. "Little Luffy is back, Boss. And it looks like he's stronger than ever." The man, Roberts, said. This was one of his most trusted. Roberts had been with him for years, he was one of the few who knew Luffy and Ace personally from back when the boys were still young and living with the bandits. For that matter, he was one of two men who knew Luffy from back before he took the boy to live with the bandits.

Roberts, Coby, and Helmeppo were the only ones who knew that he was now working alongside the Revolutionaries, in a sense, to destroy the corruption that was the World Government.

And the three of them were in complete support of it.

Garp took the paper and smirked after reading the Headline proclaiming Strawhat Luffy to have returned, and that he apparently made his spectacular return by dealing with some impostors who thought they could make it big using his name. It also said that he destroyed a Pacifista with one hit, barely even trying. Well, it didn't actually say that, he was reading between the lines and looking at the picture. Some lucky reporter had managed to get a shot of Luffy in the air, with his fist just about to connect with the Pacifista's head. Judging by the satisfied smirk on his grandson's face, he was enjoying the destruction, and wasn't finding it hard.

Garp laughed. "That's my boy." He said quietly, looking at the picture proudly.

"Sir, do you want us to cover your absence so you can go see his entrance to the New World?" Roberts asked, he was hoping his boss would say yes.

Garp narrowed his eyes in thought. "No, I better not. Just because I'm no longer being followed like I was last month doesn't mean they're not still watching. Who knows which of those new guys they forced on me are one of theirs." He muttered. He was still sore about that. His crew was largely hand-picked by himself, and he picked only those he felt he could trust not to be spying on him for Akainu, or worse, the Government. Until recently, when he was forced to bring ten fresh-from-training Marines onto his ship that he knew nothing about. He had no idea which of them were spies, or which of them were honest-to-goodness fresh meat.

Roberts frowned, but nodded. He was kind of disappointed, he had been going to get Coby and Helmeppo to watch things here while he snuck away with Garp to see the little brat.

After a moment of staring at the paper, Garp reached into his pocket, pulled out a key, and unlocked a drawer in his desk. Inside, were three Transponder Snails. One each to Dragon, Sabo, and Ace. They were all white, which meant that they couldn't be tapped, which was good considering that if anybody even knew he had them, he could be in trouble for treason. The fact that they were for family would not matter to some of those Absolute Justice idiots.

He pulled another Snail out of his pocket, this one had a Strawhat Jolly Roger painted on the side. Sabo had slipped it into his pocket earlier during their talk. When he did that, he had no idea. He had found it later on when he was walking back to the ship. He could only assume that Ace had the other one and would give it to Luffy later on. They probably gave Luffy a Snail each so he could contact them whenever not long after the Battle.

"Those brats of mine are going to cause even more trouble now that Luffy is back. All four of them." He muttered. Maybe he should have retired years ago.

"And yet, you wouldn't have it any other way, would you Boss?" Roberts asked, looking at the collection of Snails. He could only shake his head and wonder how on earth it happened that Garp was the only one of that family who wasn't a criminal. He pushed aside the thoughts that maybe Garp wasn't the best parent aside. He knew Garp wasn't parent material, and that wasn't the point here (He raised four criminals, come on!).

Garp laughed again as he set the new Snail down beside the others, closed, and locked the drawer again. "No, no I wouldn't have it any other way."


End file.
